Make Believe
by thekidwiththehelmet
Summary: Shannon spent most of her time on the island fantasizing about different lives for her and Boone.


**Title**: Make Believe

**Rating**: PG

**Disclaimer**: You know the drill...if I owned it all, blah blah blah, something to do with me wanting Sawyer...blah blah blah

**Notes**: Have you ever though of the perfect addition to a story after you've already posted it? Well, that's kind of what happened here. This is a companion to Playing House, and you should read it before this, just to keep the effect. Not essential, but whatever.

**Summary**: Shannon spent most of her time on the island fantasizing about different lives for her and Boone.

Shannon spent most of her time on the island fantasizing about different lives for her and Boone. Not like, "What would happen if we hadn't crashed?" different lives. Just different things they could have pretended to be if Shannon hadn't opened her big mouth and told everyone who would listen that Boone was her brother, and that she hated him.

She wished she hadn't said anything. She knew shy she did, of course. She was pissed at Boone, and when Shannon gets pissed at someone she likes to talk about them behind their back. So she didn't think for a second before saying, "My stupid brother Boone…." If she hadn't said anything they could have been whatever they wanted to be, and for once they could be free of the shame, because no one would have any idea that what they were doing was wrong.

Shannon had come up with several different scenarios in her head. That was what she thought about while she painted her toenails or stared out at the ocean. She knew everyone thought he head was just empty, but it wasn't. It may not have been full of thoughts about the best way to hunt boar or how much wood they'd need to get through the week, but there was something going on in there. Shannon and Boone had liked to play make believe when they were little. Cops and robbers, house, all the games normal little girls and boys did. It wasn't until they were a bit older that things stopped being normal. Shannon had carried her love of make believe into adulthood. She liked to make things up, especially in her head. Boone had more or less let go of the games once he got older, but he still played with Shannon. He'd do anything to keep her happy.

She had though of all the possible scenarios she could, and was now spending her time adding little details, and choosing the ones she liked best. Right now she was leaning toward her husband and wife fantasies. There were a few different ones.

Her favorite one was the unremarkable one. The one in which they had known each other since they were babies, and had always known they were going to be married. They had even started planning their wedding as kids. This wasn't far from the truth. Boone and Shannon used to play wedding all the time when they were little, with Shannon as the beautiful bride, and Boone playing many roles as the father of the bride/groom/priest. So Shannon and Boone had been married, just like they'd always planned, and they were in Australia on their honeymoon. Shannon liked this one best because it was the closest to normal, and she liked the feeling the normalcy gave her.

Another good marriage one was that they were two strangers who had met in Australia and spent a passionate month together before getting married the night before they returned to America. This seemed exciting to Shannon, like something out of a movie, which made the whole situation they were currently in seem less real. She had come up with a few other husband and wife scenarios, but none of them interested her enough to plan them out with details. There was the one where they had run away to Australia to elope, or the one where they were getting a divorce, but those seemed to boring to Shannon, and implausible. Why would you run all the way to Australia to elope? And why would a couple getting a divorce vacation together?

Shannon did like the boyfriend/girlfriend fantasies, too, because they were adaptable to how she felt on a certain day. Sometimes they were engaged, sometimes they weren't. Sometimes they were in the middle of a break, sometimes they were going hot and heavy. In her favorite they were high school sweethearts, spending their vacation in Australia, where he had proposed to her, and she had happily accepted. They were flying back to America a few days early because they couldn't wait to tell their parents.  
Although she didn't so much like the alternate of that where they were just dating and not engaged. It was so 'blah'. The husband/wife one may have been normal, but at least it was sweet and romantic. And she did not like the one where they were tortured lovers who had to hide their love. It felt too much like real life.

She was starting to take a special interest in her newest idea. It was very "When Harry Met Sally…" They were best friends, and they had been since they were kids. They had gone on the trip to Australia as just that, maybe they even had significant others with them. But the plane crashed, and now the were reassessing all their priorities, and during their time on the island they realize how madly in love with each other they were, and when they would finally hook up, everyone on the island would say, "Well, it's about damn time." Yeah, Shannon was definitely starting to like the one. Maybe she'd spend a little more time fleshing it out.

But they couldn't be any of things. They were just brother and sister. And because Shannon couldn't keep her goddamn mouth shut, that was all they ever would be.


End file.
